Dancemaster
by Rapha7
Summary: During their journey, the Sanzo party stops at a town with a special festival. Who will walk away with the title of Dancemaster? Implied Shonen ai. Mild Language.


Dancemaster

by

Rapha7

Saiyuki fan fic. Implied Shonen-ai. Humor.

Saiyuki belongs to Kazuya Minekura.

The lights from the festival outside called to him, but he knew better than to venture amid the throngs of people. People milled about stands of food and varied goods such as clothing, festival masks, with toys for children, and ribbons for the special dances later that evening. The musicians were already beginning to tune their instruments and their voices. The faded glow from the lamp illuminated his face for a brief moment, surprising an intense look of longing. Fireworks blasted off into the air and the festival commenced with shrieks of enjoyment, clapping and laughter. He clenched his fist reflexively.

The throbbing beat of the music called his body. He spun around and moved his hips to the beat. The vocalists lifted their voices and he lifted his arms to emphasize their words, thrusting his shoulders up and outward. He spun around again and ground his hips in the air. The music enthralled his blood. He ran his hands over his face and tapped his leg in one place before executing a particularly difficult dance move. Somehow he ended up near the wall, near a vase stand, but managed not to knock into it. He stretched his arms out and rocked his body, swaying as he spun around leading by his hips. He shook his backside a little as the vocalists scatted a few syllables. As the song ended, he threw back his head in rapture.

"Ahem…"

The clearing of throats at the door of his room startled him into spinning around, hand reaching for the first available weapon.

"Sanzo?" Goku looked at him curiously, "Are you okay?" Sanzo's face paled considerably, and then flushed a furious red in quick succession.

Hakkai covered his mouth and tried to look away as he regained his composure. Gojyo burst out laughing, unable to restrain himself.

"Hahahahahahahahahah! Sanzo-_sama_ has got the right moves alright… (CLICK)…" Gojyo managed to break off in time to duck as Sanzo fired his gun at the redhead furiously.

"Ever hear of knocking?" Sanzo's voice was filled with rage. Part of it was due to embarrassment, but he'd rather die than admit that.

Hakkai blinked as Gojyo suddenly ducked behind him, he raised his hands placatingly, "Ah, calm down now, Sanzo. We knocked, but I guess you didn't hear us?"

Goku bounded forward, oblivious of the gun and beamed up at Sanzo, "Hey, Sanzo, can we go to the festival? They've got teriyaki, fried noodles, sukiyaki, meat buns, mango curry, and all kinds of other good things to eat!"

Sanzo turned his attention on Goku, "What?" His expression hardly gave hope of a positive answer.

Goku grinned widely, his golden eyes shining, "And you can dance in a huge huge crowd and no one will care at all! It looks like a lot of fun, Sanzo!"

Sanzo gritted his teeth, exchanging his gun for his harisen in an instant. "What the hell do you take me for? I was praying!"

Goku held his head gingerly, "Yeah, okay, Sanzo, but they have a lot of good food. Oh, and they're selling masks! So you can dance without people knowing it's you!"

The harisen flew through the air again and walloped Goku hard enough to knock him off his feet. Goku landed at the door, with Hakkai and Gojyo looking at him worriedly. Sanzo seemed a little tense.

"Ah…" Hakkai rubbed the back of his head.

"Do what you want. I don't care." Sanzo turned away from them and lit a cigarette.

Gojyo whooped, "All right! Festival ladies here I…oof…what the…Hakkai?"

Hakkai ignored the red haired kappa and smiled at Sanzo, "Very well, we shall be sure to enjoy ourselves then. Have a good evening, Sanzo." He closed the door behind them, leaving Sanzo alone in his room, the smoke from his cigarette unfurling into the air as he glared at the festival outside.

A few hours later, the center of the town thronged with people. Musicians played for all their worth on the top of a stage over to the side of the town center. The people gathered in various rings and circles in the center, dancing wildly. Most of the dancers were masked and cloaked as well, adding to the general confusion and excitement of the evening. Loud bursts of laughter echoed through the night as everyone danced uninhibitedly.

Along the sides of the circle, closer to the town buildings, food stalls and sake stalls were set up for the eager customers. The clothing goods, toys, and other articles were scattered amid the food and drinking stalls haphazardly, while venders cheerfully volleyed for the attention of passersby.

Goku ran from stand to stand, happily engorging upon delicacy after delicacy. Hakkai followed Goku closely, trying to keep him from eating things likely to cause an upset stomach…though that never seemed to bother Goku. Gojyo had disappeared earlier, after seeing a flock of pretty skirts pass by. Occasionally his laughter could be heard over the din, as he indulged in bottle after bottle of sake, trying to romance the surrounding women.

Goku paused as he crammed a manjuu into his mouth, "Hey, Hakkai?" He talked around the manjuu.

"Yes, Goku?" Hakkai turned his head back from his search of the crowd.

"Do you think Sanzo would like some of these? They're peach!"

Hakkai smiled gently at Goku's face. "Perhaps you could bring him some?"

"Sure! Leave it to me!" Goku grabbed a small basket full and took off through the crowd, leaving Hakkai to pay for his purchases. Hakkai smiled ruefully at the surprised vendor.

"Thank you." Hakkai smiled sincerely, before turning around in his new quest. Before he could take a step, he ran into someone. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry…" Hakkai blinked as a bleary-eyed Gojyo stared down at him as if he'd never seen him before.

"Wow…what a looker! Are you alone, beautiful?" Gojyo leaned toward Hakkai seductively.

Hakkai could smell the rich sake on Gojyo's breath and raised his eyebrows. He glanced around him, but didn't see a woman.

"Ha. Very funny, Gojyo!"

"Huh? How come you know my name, already?" Gojyo frowned, "We haven't met yet, right? You're so beautiful, how could I forget you?"

Hakkai closed his eyes, "Gojyo, you are really really drunk."

"Hah!" Gojyo burst out laughing, "Maybe, but you're really really beautiful." He lifted a hand and stroked Hakkai's face. "Hmm. Are you alone then, beautiful?"

Hakkai snorted, turning his head away, "Really. You are a mess." Hakkai sidestepped Gojyo, who suddenly latched onto his arm.

"No! Don't run away, beautiful. That would mean I have to chase…uh…" Gojyo slumped forward against Hakkai.

Hakkai caught Gojyo before he hit the ground, but his bottle of sake spun through the air and crashed to the ground. "Oh dear, you're really very drunk."

The vendor behind him began laughing, causing Hakkai to turn questioningly toward him. "Oh, that sake he was drinking would cause stronger men to baa like sheep after one cup! I wonder how many bottles he took on!"

Hakkai smiled ironically, "Indeed. I should get him to bed, I guess."

The vendor grinned, "Well, that might be difficult at the moment. How about I let you rest in my café? Its right behind us…I have tables and booths aplenty. You'll be out of the rush until he can sober up a bit."

Bowing as he slung Gojyo's arm around his shoulders, "Thank you, sir."

"No problem. After all, this is a festival!"

Goku's feet pounded up the stairs as he raced toward Sanzo's room, his arms full with the basket. He skidded to a stop on the dry planks and knocked loudly. "Hey, Sanzo! I have manjuu! Manjuu from the festival! They're great!" He burst into the room and found it empty. "Huh?"

Moments later, Goku ran back out of the inn and raced through the crowds, craning his neck furiously for sight of Sanzo, Hakkai, or Gojyo. No one looked familiar. "Ah! Sanzo! Gojyo! Hakkai!" Goku shouted, but his voice was hardly audible above the musicians and general shrieking.

Suddenly there was a loud clashing sound and Goku leapt back in surprise. "What?"

On the stage, a figure draped in blues and purples waved for attention. The dancers fell silent.

"Welcome to the festival of the fates! Here we will dance the long awaited ribbon dance!"

There was a sudden raucous cheer from everyone, the dancers and the surrounding stalls.

"Huh?"

"For this dance, you must have a partner, and you must use a ribbon to tie both of you together!"

Goku's mouth dropped open, "Weird…huh…hey!" He gasped and shouted as a gloved hand grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the dancers. "What are you doing? I'm looking for someone!"

A ribbon was briskly tied around Goku's wrist and attached to the wrist of the cloaked, masked figure. Goku peered at the stranger nervously. "Who are you?" The peacock mask covered the entire face, while the cloak's hood concealed the head completely. The rich brown color of the cloak swirled completely around the stranger's body all the way to the ground. "Huh?"

"Does everyone have their partners?" The emcee called from the center of the stage. "Then let's begin! The last pair of dancers in the center, who continue without stopping, will win a wondrous array of prizes…including a feast at the local café, a case of sake from our best brewery, a very rare and classic novel from our finest bookseller, this finely sewn dress of lavender silk from our best dressmaker, and a case of cigarettes from our tobacco shop, not to mention the exquisite golden trophy that clearly states DANCEMASTER! For consolation prizes, each pair of dancers will get a pass for a free drink at the brewer's stand, and for second place, this very handsome looking fur lined cloak made by the tailor and a lovely gold bracelet from the jeweler. Dance now! And don't let your ribbons be cut by the oni in the black capes with crow masks!"

Goku stopped listening after the word feast was mentioned as a prize. "A feast! Hey, we'll split the prize, right?" The stranger nodded once without speaking. "Awesome! Food! Food! Ah, but hey, can you dance?"

The figure turned away briskly and guided Goku into the throng.

Imagine, if you will, something close to Riverdance, clogging, and foot stomping, both dancing and music. This dance tests endurance and the fortitude of the dancers, as well as their ability to dodge the attacks of the "oni." The "oni" weave throughout the dancers and try picking off the contestants. Once the ribbon of "fate" has been cut, the dancers are disqualified and escorted to the sidelines.

Skittering though the first round of stomping, the music swelled faster and faster, prompting the dancers' legs into hurried bouts of stomping and whirling as they tried to escape from the "oni."

Goku laughed as an "oni" came close to him and his partner, as he dodged easily by ducking. His partner spun quickly and caught the "oni" with an elbow, dropping the "oni" to the ground. Goku laughed again.

"Wow! This is fun!" Goku stomped and laughed, his legs matching the pace of the music perfectly. His partner's footwork matched his evenly, and their whirling in perfect tandem tied hands upraised close together, practically holding hands led them to the center of the circle.

Another "oni" crept up behind his partner and Goku lifted a leg in conjunction with a dance move, catching the "oni" square on the chin. That "oni" fell backward.

His partner continued to lead Goku through the weaving throng of dancers, keeping their wrists away from the "oni" and…what was that? Another pair of dancers, determined to win tried to cut their ribbon with a knife. Goku squawked indignantly and was pulled back quickly into his partner's embrace, his feet still clogging to the beat. Also dancing, the peacock dancer Goku's partner flung out an arm and shoved back the dancer's wrist so it cut their ribbon instead. An "oni" came forward and escorted the pair from the circle.

"Nice one!" Goku praised excitedly, spinning around quickly to keep moving to the beat.

By the last set, only four partners remained from the initial throng. Goku and the peacock. A bear and a swan. A tiger and a horse. A boar and a dragon.

"Now, we've reached SUDDEN DEATH!" The emcee announced excitedly. "Dancers, if you stop dancing for even a moment, you and your partner will be disqualified! The "oni" will no longer try to cut your ribbons. This is NOW a TRIAL of ENDURANCE!"

The onlookers cheered on the dancers, who had been dancing for nearly two hours straight---the beginning of the contest.

Another set of musicians came from behind the musicians and sat down next to the current musicians and joined in, finally taking over the playing completely as the exhausted musicians rested.

Each pair of dancers took a corner in the circle and continued to stomp their feet to the unrelenting beat. By this time, the cloaks were clinging to the dancers, and circles of sweat were visible in the closer-fitting ones of the boar and dragon. They began to weave a little on their feet, until finally they collapsed on their knees. Two "oni" moved forward and lifted them up, escorting them to the sidelines.

Thirty minutes passes as the songs continuously changed, the speeds varying and the dancers wearying. At long last, only two dancing pairs remained…that of the bear and swan and the peacock and Goku.

"Whew!" Goku laughed, his feet still springing endlessly, "This is fun, but a little tiring, huh? Food! Food! Food!" Goku rallied with the promise of the feast, spinning and stomping excitedly. His partner managed to keep up with his speed evenly. The bear and the swan also stomped in perfect tandem.

"Hey! That bear is pretty amazing, huh? They've been dancing as long as us! Aren't they tired too?"

As Goku spoke cheerfully to his partner, the bear's legs suddenly gave way and he crumpled to the ground. Initially the swan kept dancing, but stopped to disengage the ribbon from the bear's limp wrist. The swan lifted the ribbon pointedly.

The emcee leapt to the forefront of the stage. "WE HAVE A WINNER!"

Goku blinked, "Huh? Does that mean 'they' won?" He and his partner still stomped, as they waited for the announcement to complete.

"YES! WE HAVE A WINNER! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! OUR WNNERS! THE PEACOCK and the…uh…THE SPRINGY KID! OUR WINNERS! LET'S HEAR IT FOR THEM!"

The crowds erupted into applause and Goku blinked. "Does that mean I get to eat?"

Everyone burst out laughing as they heard his question. His dancing partner stopped dancing and led him toward the stage.

"Of course! At the café, though it would be best to wait until tomorrow to redeem it!" The emcee grinned. "Here are the prizes… First, the grand trophy…DANCEMASTER! Now, which one of you…oh, of course, Peacock-san. Please!"

Goku's partner began to withdraw as the other prizes were loaded into Goku's arms, "Huh? Hey, wait a minute, uh…Peacock-san!" Goku shuffled the book, cartons of cigarettes, and case of sake around in his arms, "Weren't we going to split everything?"

His partner paused, then strode back and grabbed the topmost item…the lavender silk dress. The peacock bowed deeply, and then hurried away.

"Huh." Goku grinned, "Well, all right! Whoo hoo! The guys are gonna be surprised for sure! Oh…hey…old man! Where's the feast thing?"

The emcee turned at the indignant tone of the boy and burst out laughing. The crowd laughed loudly too. The emcee wiped his balding brow with a handkerchief, "Yes, well, just a moment. Eh…Liu…" The emcee gestured toward the boy.

Liu, the café owner bowed deeply, presenting the certificate for a feast to Goku ceremonially.

"ALL RIGHT!" Goku roared, "I DID IT!" The crowds laughed delightedly at his enjoyment.

The next day the three older members of the Sanzo party sat at the breakfast table in shock and silence as Goku related his incredible good fortune. "Hey! Hey! I got us some good stuff, right, Hakkai?" Goku presented Hakkai with the rare book. "They said it was expensive. I couldn't really understand it last night, even though it does have a lot of pictures, but I thought you'd like it."

The title is _Kama Sutra_, by the way. Hakkai choked on his tea. "Ah, thank you, Goku." Hakkai's face flushed as he took the book quickly and placed it in his lap, a free hand touching his neck.

"Huh?" Gojyo leaned over, looking at the book title, still a bit hung-over, "Isn't that…?"

"Yes." Hakkai said quickly, "But let's not discuss that now. What else did you win, Goku?" Hakkai tried to put out of his mind that Goku had had the entire night to read through the book.

"Oh…uh…yeah," Goku beamed, "Well, the case of sake is up in the room, under the bed. I figured we could all share it." The three members stopped eating and stared at him.

"A…whole…case?" Gojyo repeated. He embraced the monkey, wrapping his arm around Goku's neck, "You little chimp!" He laughed excitedly.

Hakkai frowned, "Well, only a bit at a time, Goku." Hakkai touched his neck absently.

Sanzo grunted, "What else did you win?"

Goku touched his chin with a finger, "Oh, yeah, for you Sanzo!" Goku reached from behind and presented him with the two cartons of cigarettes. "I think this is your brand, right?"

Sanzo's mouth slightly opened as Gojyo's mouth dropped open in shock. "What the! You little monkey! You were holding out on me!"

Goku shook off Gojyo's punishing arm, "Oh shut up, ero-kappa. They're Sanzo's brand, not yours. You wouldn't like them anyway."

Hakkai cleared his throat, his hand still near the base, "So, Goku, is that everything?"

Goku's eyes suddenly glistened, "Oh no, Hakkai, I haven't gotten to the BEST part! The greatest prize EVER!" Tears sprung from his eyes and he clenched his hands together happily.

Sanzo's eyes widened, Gojyo blinked, Hakkai fidgeted, "Uh…so what is it?"

"FOOD! A feast at the local café! Hee hee hee! So we have to stay here for today…at least until we can take advantage of THIS!" Goku jumped up and flashed the certificate proudly.

Three pairs of eyes lifted to study the certificate.

"Oh, my!" Hakkai breathed, "That is a rather good prize, right Sanzo?" His eyes were a bit amused.

Sanzo clenched the cartons of cigarettes closely, away from Gojyo's questing fingers, "Hmm."

Gojyo chuckled, "Wow. Good going, chimp. So…how'd you win all this, anyway?"

Goku paused, and then grinned triumphantly, "By dancing!"

Three pairs of eyes stared at him incredulously.

"It's true! Honest! See, it even says right here…F-o-r the winner of the dance contest."

Hakkai leaned forward to study the certificate, "It really does. Oh my."

Gojyo burst out laughing, "No way! Like master like monkey! Hahahahahahaha!"

Sanzo whipped out his harisen and whacked Gojyo over the head, "Shut up, kappa. It's too early for such noise!"

"Jeez, man! Take it easy! I just thought it was funny. Here we catch you dancing…then later on the little monkey wins a dance prize." Gojyo sulked.

Hakkai cleared his throat, "Um…it says here, dancing team…who did you pair with, Goku?"

Gojyo and Hakkai stared at Sanzo suspiciously. Sanzo leaned back and took a sip of tea.

Goku scratched his head, "Um, well, I don't know, really. It was a stranger. In a mask."

Hakkai and Gojyo whipped their heads around, "What?" They chorused.

"Yeah. They were wearing a long dark cloak and a peacock mask that covered their face completely. The hood was up too, so I couldn't see anything. But boy was the peacock dancer amazing! They kept up with me without getting tired at all! We were 'sposed to share the prizes, but the peacock dancer just wanted the trophy…oh, and that dress." Goku shrugged philosophically, "Oh well, I didn't want to dance at all until they said they'd give me a feast as a prize."

Hakkai started laughing, "I can see how that would draw you in. I wonder who that dancer was?"

Gojyo frowned, "A dress, was it a woman?"

Goku pursed his lips, "If so, she was really tall and strong! There were these "oni" who came around cutting ribbons to disqualify people. The peacock knocked a few of them out before they could cut ours."

"'Oni'?" Hakkai repeated, "It sounds a rather complex and hard to win contest, Goku."

Goku nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, the last part had four pairs, and we had an endurance test. The only pair that made it as far as we did had the bear dancer. That guy was strong. He danced the best out of all of us…at least it looked pretty. But I guess he got tired after 3 or 4 hours of dancing straight. And those musicians were playing **fast**."

Sanzo's lips curled briefly, "It sounds like you had a good time at the festival."

Goku tilted his head, "Oh, yeah, Sanzo, did you get the manjuu okay? I brought some for you, but you weren't in your room. I looked for you at the festival, but I didn't find any of you guys. Then that peacock grabbed me and I forgot to look."

The other three suddenly assumed indifferent positions around the table. Sanzo lifted his paper and studied it intently. Hakkai cleared his throat nervously and stroked an area at the base of his throat. Gojyo leaned forward and began shoveling food into his mouth.

Goku cleared his throat, "I figured you were probably taking a bath or something. You like to take them when no one is around to bother you."

Sanzo just rattled his paper, while the other two avoided looking at anyone at the table.

Goku scratched his head, "Well, I guess I'll have seconds."

Yaone and Dokugakuji hurried through the palace of Gyumaoh toward the chambers of Prince Kougaiji.

"He just returned from a mission…" Yaone gasped, nearly running.

"How could he leave without us?" Dokugakuji retorted angrily, "Damn it…it's far too dangerous to take on those kinds of things alone."

Kougaiji lifted his head as his loyal friends entered his chamber, "How did things go here?"

"Kou!"

"Kougaiji-sama!"

Kougaiji smiled mysteriously, "Come now, I was only gone for one day. I returned immediately."

Yaone sighed, "But Kougaiji-sama, we want to help you…"

Kougaiji smiled, "That's o…"

"What's that?" Dokugakuji pointed at a shiny gold object in the room that was almost gaudy in the classical subdued colors of Kougaiji's suite.

"Oh!" Kougaiji leapt to his feet, his face slightly reddening, "Never mind that!" Dashing over to the shelf, he quickly hid it behind his back and laughed nervously. "It's really nothing."

Yaone and Dokugakuji looked at each other suspiciously. Just then Lirin bounced in…wearing something lavender.

"Yay!" Lirin grinned, "Ni-sama came back with presents!"

Kougaiji glanced across the room and saw a blue-green feather sticking out from behind a book shelf and groaned inwardly.

"Bosatsu, what are you doing now?"

"Hmm?" The goddess of mercy lifted her head and rested a hand on her chin as she gazed at the pool of water lilies, "Watching, of course. It's getting pretty interesting." She swirled a mask on the fingers of her free hand.

"Bosatsu…what exactly is that?" Her attendant's gaze locked in on the mask.

"Hmm? Oh this? A swan mask, just what it looks like. Oh…here we go!" Bosatsu leaned forward and withdrew binoculars from a hidden place on her throne, focusing in on the Sanzo party.

Sanzo turned his head away as he carefully withdrew an item from his robes and tossed it into the fire. Mission accomplished. Goku bounded noisily into the room and ran up to Sanzo.

"Hey, Sanzo!" Sanzo touched a hand to his head and a brief flash of gold sparkled from his wrist.

"What is it now, Goku?"

"Hakkai's acting funny. Did you notice? It's like his throat hurts or something. He keeps touching it. He won't let me or Gojyo see."

Sanzo frowned, "Really? Perhaps we better…"

Hakkai stormed into the room, Gojyo close on his heels.

"Hey, wait a minute, all I said was…"

"Sanzo! Goku!" Hakkai paused in surprise, trying to backpedal out of the room.

Sanzo strode forward and grabbed Hakkai by the shoulder. "All right, let's see what the problem is!"

Gojyo gleefully dove forward and removed the green colored head scarf Hakkai had wrapped around his neck. "What exactly is…oh… shit!"

Goku popped his head under Gojyo's arms, "Huh? What's the matter? Oh, that's a bruise! On your neck! What happened? It looks awfully red! Does it hurt?"

Sanzo released Hakkai suddenly, "Nothing to worry about, Goku." Sanzo grabbed Goku by the neck and pulled him away, "Let's go to that café. You still have that certificate, right? They'll join us quickly enough." They left through the door, Sanzo pushing, and Goku craning his neck to look backward.

Gojyo's face was as crimson as his hair and eye color, as he tried to get Hakkai's attention, "Um…I really don't remember anything, Hakkai. I'm really sorry…OW!"

Gojyo fell onto the floor, as Hakkai stood over him with a clenched fist. "Hmph."

Hakkai turned on his heel and stomped away from the inn. Gojyo sat on the floor and touched his sore cheek.

"Oh shit. I can't believe I….! Just how much did I drink last night? I don't remember any of it!"


End file.
